There is an expanding market for intact, living plants, including edible plants and their components without extensive pre-processing. However, transporting and distributing healthy, growing plants throughout the marketplace in a cost- and energy-efficient manner continues to be a challenge for producers and suppliers. In some approaches, the plants are initially cultivated in an optimized environment and are subsequently transferred into a container appropriate for the stresses imposed by shipping and distribution to the consumer. In other approaches, seedlings are grown in individual shipping-ready containers at the outset to avoid the need for replanting. However, the containers intended to protect against the relatively harsh conditions imposed by distribution, including temperature fluctuations, lack of consistent water or moisture, physical handling, and the like, do not necessarily provide ideal growing conditions and, thus, result in a deterioration of plant quality. For example, placing lids over growing seedlings to prevent spillage of soil will also reduce or block light entirely. This results in an initial acceleration of growth of the leaf mass in an attempt to locate light, followed by a deterioration of health. Other systems suffer from excessive evaporation, which limits the time available to support plant life before desiccation negatively impacts the plant health, thus limiting the time available to deliver to market. Often, refrigeration is applied during shipping to slow the plant growth and metabolism in an effort to enhance plant longevity and health during storage and transportation. However, such environment control is expensive, contributing significantly to the ultimate plant product in the marketplace.
Accordingly, there remains a need for plant packaging that facilitates ideal cultivation conditions and promotes plant health and longevity during storage and distribution without requiring expensive environmental controls, such as refrigeration. The present disclosure addresses these and related needs.